1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique in which result information for a customer user is provided to the client.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been proposed a device management service that performs device management, failure recovery, printing condition management, and the like of customers' image forming apparatuses (such as a copy machine, a printer, and the like). It is contemplated that the above device management service is realized as a cloud service by a server on the Internet. Such a device management service realized as the cloud service manages the image forming apparatus per unit, such as a customer or a group, and transmits/receives device management information such as device information and a result value of a print (result information) between the image forming apparatuses and the server on the Internet. In this context, it is contemplated that when a management system controls processing, so that the server on the Internet performs device authentication of the image forming apparatus that is a transmission/reception target of device management information, only the image forming apparatus whose authentication has succeeded is allowed to transmit/receive the device management information.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-168795 discloses an information processing system in which a service provider redirects authentication processing to an identity provider that responds to a preregistered customer so that the identity provider executes the authentication processing when the service provider receives an unauthenticated request.
However, in the case of the management system in which the server performs the device authentication of the device that is the transmission/reception target of the device management information is applied, the device authentication has to be performed for acquisition of the device management information by a user, and as the result, the device is limited to the devices capable of acquiring the device management information. For example, device registration of all devices such as personal computers and mobile terminals of customers poses a huge load on a user.
On the other hand, a management system in which a server on the Internet executes user management, authenticates a user who requires management information, and transmits the management information to the user whose authentication has succeeded is contemplated. However, since the user management has also executed in the intranet under a usage environment of a customer in recent years, additional user management in the server on the internet increases the load. Also, the user management in the server on the Internet may not ensure security.
Also, even in an information processing system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-168795, the service provider (management system) is required to execute the user management for executing the authentication in response to the request. Also, the identity provider assumes a server that stably operates with respect to this information processing system, but the information processing system does not determine whether or not the server that is an access redirect destination from a user operates stably.